Up and Running!

You may see a few slight changes here over the next few days, but we are once more fully functional! All of the links should work again! Thanks for your patience.

Under Construction

Just so you know:

This blog will be under construction over the next few days. It's going to look funny, and links won't work properly. If you need any of the patterns before I get things sorted out, just email me at refugeecrafter(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send them your way.

So sorry!

My Dress for the Wedding

I was overdressed. I knew I would be, but what other chance was I going to have to make a formal dress for myself!? Besides, my husband expects these sorts of things from me now. I just can't bear to let him down. Right?


This dress was my inspiration. I am still so in love with that dress. It reminds me of the dress Vera-Ellen wears when she dances on the dock with Danny Kaye in White Christmas.


Made of an ivory satin and yards and yards nylon chiffon. Two complete circles resulting in a 10 yard circumference around the bottom for each of the four layers in the skirt. Talk about a twirly dress.

It was yellower (in person) than I originally imagined, almost a light buttercup actually, but it looked fabulous with those tomato red heels in the end so no complaining here.


I should have made a movie to show you how it moved. Oh, how it moved!



Here is a detail of my favorite part. Didn't that turn out lovely?

(I know it's a little lacking in the main wedding coral color, but as I figure it, I was going to be carrying this darling coral accessory the whole time anyway. Plus, I wasn't so sure I could pull off the coral as well as she could.)

It's been a while since I've sewn for myself, and honestly, I was scared to death to do so much pattern drafting for myself for this dress. I feel so much more comfortable drafting for children. I learned a lot from this one, and I'm still learning, but each new dress is a new step along the path.

Tigi's Wedding Dress

Now that the newlyweds (my brother- and sister-in-law) have been married a month, I suppose I can post pictures of my wedding creations. Not that there was really any reason to wait until now...it just kind of happened that way.

First, the headband I made using the singed fabric method like the one here. I used about six or seven layers for each flower and offset each layer instead of attaching them all in the middle. There are a few beads sewn in the middle too.

And now, here is the dress I designed and made for Tigi. My little fairy princess. What a doll!


Aren't those gold sandals just adorable?


Funny story about the fabric. I found it in the "red tag" section at JoAnn's the day before the "red tag" section went on sale for half off. It was only fabric around in the PERFECT color, so, like any other good-natured bargain hunter, I hid it beneath a pile of other red tag fabrics so that I could return and purchase it the next day for $1.50 a yard. Then I found another bolt and promptly hid that too. After all, you've got to buy an extra four yards...just in case, right? I then returned the next day and recovered my buried treasure.

A couple of weeks later my sister in law and her mother who was visiting came over, and I proudly showed them my conquest. To my surprise, they turned to each other and laughed. "So you're the reason we had to go to THREE different JoAnn's to find enough of that same fabric for all the bridesmaids' and flower girls' dresses!" they exclaimed.

Oops. At least I can say with a surety that it was the perfect fabric.

I'd love to show you my initial sketch that inspired this dress, but Teagan is sleeping in the same room as the scanner so I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Until then.

New Shirt

Tigi visited Daddy's school for the first time last week and 'needed' a new outfit for her debut. Really, she gave me the whole 'I don't have anything to wear' bit and everything. So I obliged the day before.


How could I disappoint a face like that?


Or was it this face?


This shirt from Gymboree was the inspiration. So lovin' their new spring line.

I've got a couple of friends having girls that just may get the exact same shirt...considering that I have a whole bolt of this fabric purchased from a thrift store...for four bucks...yep, you heard that right, four bucks. Rock.

Celebrate the Boy

I have been loving celebrating the boy this month with MADE and madebyrae. Every morning I wake up and check to find the day's boy inspired projects first thing.

This 90-min-shirt tutorial was calling my name, and despite the dozen half-finished projects waiting for my attention, I started one right away.

The tutorial was very easy to follow. Loved it. The only things I did or would do differently next time:

-Cut the ribbing two inches shorter and stretch it a little while sewing it on so that after it is sewn it will automatically pull itself back into the right shape. I did this on the cuffs and wish I had done it on the collar too.

-Also, I don't own a serger so I just rolled a 1/4 inch under on the top side of the ribbing before folding it in half. Then, I sewed two parallel lines about an 1/8 of an inch apart. I gives it a bit more polished look.

This is my first time working with knit and it was surprisingly less scary than expected especially when using my new ball point needle. It's nice to have the fabric give a little. And I'm so in love with the easiness of the envelope collar when setting in sleeves I just might marry one.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

So in love with these.

I used this pattern:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050612081043/http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/na_knitting/article/0,2025,DIY_14141_3148516,00.html

There is even an accompanying video:
http://www.diynetwork.com/videos/fashionable-baby-booties/4143.html

So in love with the top belonging to that pair of feet too.

Christmas Coat

If this little doll could have a coat this adorable, then why shouldn't my little doll have one too?


Merry Christmas little doll! Your first Christmas outfit. I had all sorts of plans for the traditional "Christmas Dress" to go with it, but, well, you weren't the only one I was giving handmade gifts to this year and I'm still getting used to this whole two kids thing. But don't worry. There's still Easter, and your uncle is getting married in May. There are plenty of dresses in your future.

I used McCalls Pattern 5739 as a starting point, and then changed everything. Why do I always have to complicate things? I lengthened the top, added a shortened ruffle, placket, pocket flaps, and changed the collar. Oh, and added a loop to make it look like a tied bow without adding bulk. I keep finding out new things about how babies are built every time I sew. Babies have practically no necks (like teddy bears) so even the collar was pushing it. Hence, a bulky bow was out. Besides, who wants to tie a knot every time you put on a coat. The ends of this collar just slide through the loop. I also tried out the bubble hemmed sleeves, but on a baby, they just looked too huge and unbalanced.

I wonder what I'll learn next time.

Mini Christmas Stockings

Posting these got a little lost in all the holiday hubbub.









I made them for my SIL, and now I'm wishing I'd made some for myself. There's always next year.

You can find the pattern at:
http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/free_knitting_patterns/2007/06/knitted_mini_ch.html

Dreams Do Come True!

I can hardly believe it! My blessing dress was featured in Grosgrain's Flickr Favs last week! This is such a big deal to me. She's huge in the sewing/blogging world! I feel like the nerd who just got noticed by the head cheerleader, and she said such nice things!

This lady is the reason I started sewing again so it means all the more to me. I've always enjoyed sewing, but didn't realized how much until I discovered her blog a year and a half ago. She makes these gorgeous dresses and gives them away. Seeing them made me want to sew again...so I pulled out the sewing machine even though I didn't have a little girl to sew for back then. (I sewed for Liam when I could, but there just aren't very many boy patterns, and he's not all that keen on dress-up. Go figure.) The rest is history.

Somebody pinch me. I still think I must be dreaming.